After more than a year of touring and a deluxe release of their widely successful 2017 album, The Click, AJR is back with Neotheater, a clear sign of artist maturation. It displays the hard work brothers Adam, Jack and Ryan Met put in to bring audiences a developed sound while maintaining the lively horns, heavy…

During the 2010s indie-rock explosion, Orange County’s Local Natives set themselves apart in a sea of folksy schmaltz with detailed drumming and multifaceted vocal harmonies. Gorilla Manor (2010) and 2013’s Humming Bird took a smarter approach to the pop-rock tropes of the time with a solid foundation in Afro-beat. Violet…

When The Mountain Goats announced In League with Dragons, and you saw that the announcement was sponsored by Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast, you may have made some assumptions. You may have been expecting a concept album set on Toril, full of songs about the gods and…

During the five years since Nick Murphy released Built on Glass, he’s reoriented himself as a frontrunner in modern soul. Besides leaving his stage name Chet Faker, the Australian musician and producer embarked on a cross-continental journey of creativity and introspection. From his mother’s living room to Japan, Murphy…

Spotlights, “Love & Decay.” Brooklyn trio Spotlights has steadily developed their “atmospheric bludgeoning” from the 2009 single they spontaneously recorded. Married couple Sarah and Mario Quintero mix thick riffage with lofty synths and shoegazey ambience, while Chris Enriquez’s dynamic drumming empowers and directs the immersive walls of sound. This third…

With two solo albums and collaborations with the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Heather Woods Broderick has become far more than a folk singer-songwriter. Her ethereal singing and luscious arrangements seamlessly blend ambient music, chamber pop and acoustic balladry. And her latest album, Invitation, takes a more personal turn.…

The O’Jays released their first single in 1960. In the nearly six decades since, they’ve released 30 albums. Five of those albums went gold, another four platinum. They’ve had six top-10 singles including all-time greats “Back Stabbers,” “Love Train,” and “For the Love of Money.” The Last Word, their…

Cage the Elephant, “Social Cues.” After winning a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album with 2015’s Tell Me I’m Pretty, expectations are high for Cage The Elephant‘s fifth album. Social Cues introduces the band’s most toned-down and subdued collection of songs. It gets personal with singer Matt Schultz’s personal life, detailing the unraveling…

Following 2012’s Rhythm and Repose, 2015’s Grammy-nominated Didn’t He Ramble and 2018’s Between Two Shores, Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard delves into his mind and emotion on This Wild Willing. Accompanied by expressive classical guitars and orchestral arrangements, Hansard tells vivid stories of love, determination and understanding. This Wild Willing Glen Hansard ANTI-, April 12…

Coming off its 2016 opus, Paradise Gallows, Inter Arma was still getting lumped in with the doom metal troop. It was understandably frustrating, considering the Virginia quintet’s unique blend of old-school death metal, psychedelic sludge and avant-garde black metal. Beside the gargantuan riffs of Steven Russell and Trey Dalton, Andrew…